Three Essential Baby Accessories

I was at a baby expo recently and was blown away by all the stuff that you can buy when you're having a baby It must be really overwhelming for new parents to be thinking, all of this stuff, what do I really need, what don't I need? I mean, a lot has changed in the last 15 years since I had my first and so today I wanna give you, I'm not a huge believer in gadgets I really don't think that there's anything magical that's gonna get your baby to sleep, no motion crib, no fancy lavender spray I just don't believe it I believe that sleep is a skill set and you need to learn independent sleep skills and once a baby's learned that then they're going to become a really great sleeper but there are three things that I call my magic three that I use, I've used with my own children from basically the time they were toddlers all the way through even to today

So today, I'm gonna share with you my favorite three things that you can pick up at the store and use starting today and they're really inexpensive gadgets that will help you in your parenting journey Are you ready? Number one is a timer I love a timer I use a timer for everything It's a great way to keep things consistent

It's a great way to sort of take the blame off of you and put it on the timer and it's a great way to basically get kids to respond as quickly as you would like them to So I'll give you a couple of examples where I would use a timer One, when my kids were little especially my middle son hated to get out of the bathtub Just always threw a fit every time So I brought in the timer and I said, as soon as we hear the bell, it's time to get out

Now, the first few times, absolutely, he still kicked up a fuss but as he began to become aware of the fact that every time that bell rings, she hauls me out of the tub whether I like it or not, he came around to the the idea that the bell meant I have to get out, no point in putting up a fuss and he stopped and he would say, bell and he would climb out of the tub and we'd move on to the next phase Another great place to use it is in the morning rush hour, right, when you're trying to get out the door, trying to get everybody ready Setting a timer and then giving a little reward incentive around that is a great way to kinda keep stress levels down So if you say, listen, if we can all get our shoes on, get our coats, get our backpacks and be out the door, ready to go by the time the bell rings then we can all have your favorite song in the car or a little candy once you get in your car seats or whatever the reward might be and that's a great way to keep it positive and kinda keep everybody on track So timers are also great for timeouts, right? That makes sense

Setting the timer for a minute for every age, year your child is is again a great way to kinda keep timeouts consistent and let your child know that okay, I have to sit here until the timer goes and then I can proceed So that's one Number two is reward I love to give rewards It's a great way to kinda get the ball rolling in the right direction

I don't wanna see it linger on too long It's just basically setting the stage for the behavior So again, if you've got that morning rush hour and you're having a hard time getting out the door, setting a little reward incentive for everybody is a good way to motivate You can also use it at your bedtime process You can use it for your child staying in their bed all night

You can use it if your child's getting up too early in the morning If you can stay in your bed until your clock turns seven or magic seven or till you see the light come up then there can be a little reward in that as well Now, you're not gonna be rewarding your child until the time they leave home It's just for the first week or so until the behavior gets established and then you kinda just stop mentioning it Your child kinda loses interest in it because there's reward enough in the fact that you're happy, you're giving lots of verbal praise, they're finding it's much better to be organized in the morning than to feel stressed out about it

So that's another one My third little gadget is a clock I love a clock It's a great way to keep a toddler in their bed longer in the morning hours Early morning wake-ups are a really common problem especially with the toddler

Once he has the freedom to get out of his own bed, you might find you have a little visitor at five o'clock in the morning That's not fun for everyone So you can just go old school That's what I did with all my kids Just got a digital alarm clock, duct tape over those minute numbers so all my kids could see was the hour and then just start talking about magic seven

That means it's nighty-night That means it's morning Please don't call or come for me until you see that magic seven Now, again, you have to make it the rule and you gotta be consistent with it or it's not going to work but that's a great way to keep your children in bed till the appropriate hour You can get fancy with it if you want

There's lots of things that have come on the market over the years to kinda toddler clocks they're called, Gro-Clocks some of them are called Just be really cautious though that they're not too bright We know that too much light in the night is interfering our melatonin production and that could cause some wake-ups for your child So make sure the light is very low or it has a setting that you can turn down Nothing that glows blue

That is the most interfering color on the spectrum as far as melatonin is concerned so nothing blue Alright, just to recap Timers, love 'em Rewards, great Clocks, do it